Barnburners

The Barnburners were a liberal faction of the New York Democratic Party during the mid-19th century, opposing the conservative Hunkers. The Barnburners, led by Martin Van Buren, Silas Wright, and John A. Dix, opposed expanding the public debt, and the power of the large state-established corporations; their nickname came from farmers who would burn their farm down to kill a few rats, just as the "Barnburners" would destroy all banks and corporations to root out their abuses. The faction also exposed the expansion of slavery, and, in 1848, the Barnburners and Conscience Whigs formed the Free Soil Party. After the Compromise of 1850, most Barnburners rejoined the Democratic Party, while some helped to form the Republican Party in 1854.